NEWPORT - A Vermont hospital has cut 19 workers and reduced hours for three others to deal with dropping revenue.

The Caledonian Record reported that the cutbacks at North Country Hospital in Newport are to save $1.3 million, to make up for a $1.6 million operating loss this year out of an $80 million budget.

The cuts affected 3 percent of the 600 who work for the hospital and its clinics.

Most of the cuts affect non-clinical staff, from administration, human resources, accounting and the facilities maintenance departments. Six of the employees work in the occupational medicine and psychiatry clinics, which are closing.

Claudio Fort, North Country's president, said the 25-bed critical care hospital could not continue to run a deficit and keep serving the 30,000 people that depend on it.